


Alternate Ending to The Murmur of Yearning by Its_Mike_Kapufty

by Borderline_Babe



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Antarctica, Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Heartache, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 15:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Borderline_Babe/pseuds/Borderline_Babe
Summary: This tome picks up at Chapter 33 of the original story.Link has been reassigned to Amundsen-Scott. He had been emailing with Mick back at field post 466, but Mick has gone silent. Link doesn't know what he should do. Resigned to living out his time at Amundsen-Scott in self-imposed exile, Link gets an unexpected visit.





	Alternate Ending to The Murmur of Yearning by Its_Mike_Kapufty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [its_mike_kapufty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_mike_kapufty/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Murmur of Yearning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17988200) by [its_mike_kapufty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_mike_kapufty/pseuds/its_mike_kapufty). 



> As stated, this is an alternate ending to "The Murmur of Yearning" by Its_Mike_Kapufty. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you read this first.
> 
>  
> 
> *** This alternate ending does contain the suggestion of a suicide. If this is a trigger, please take into account. If you're thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, please call 1-800-273-8255.***

 

  ________________________________________________

 

Link should have been startled when the sound of someone curtly rapping on his bedroom door broke the silence he had nestled in. Instead, he slowly turned his head toward the sound.

 

“Come in,” Link said flatly.

 

“Dr. Neal, I need to talk with y-” Stevie Levine opened the door to Link’s room enough to peer her head into the space. “... Are you sitting in the dark?” Her stooped body following, her left arm reaching along the wall to flip the light switch. As the room illuminated, the Operations Coordinator’s eyes landed on Link sitting on his bed, back against the wall. Link smiled vacantly and raised his hand in a weak wave.

 

“Oh, yeah, um, I suppose so.” Link responded barely above a whisper, looking around, seemingly just realizing that he was now in a fully lit room.

 

The Operations Coordinator righted herself, crossed her arms and studied Link. He had been a slight man when she first met him, but now - only days later - he appeared gaunt, with bags dug deeply under each eye. Her gaze narrowed as she completed her visual assessment. She had come to deliver news to the researcher, now, the sight of him made her second guess her mission.

 

Link squirmed under the scrutiny of the Coordinator. Felt her unspoken judgement. His plan for living out his time at Amundsen-Scott in solitude was being subverted.

 

“May I sit?” Levine asked as she gestured to the bench across from the bed. It screeched as she pulled it inches from Link’s feet hanging over the bed. Link slid his hips to the edge of his bed with his heels and sat knee to knee with Levine. 

 

Why was she there? What more could this organization do to him? His mind was suddenly whirling with so many scenarios that they all mixed in a dark, twisting funnel of fear. Link tried to read Levine, but her attention was on her hands in her lap. Her fingertips tapped each other. Her shoulders raised as she took a deep breath and when she exhaled, her eyes slowly raised to meet Link’s. 

 

“We had not heard from Dr. McLaughlin since you left field site 466. We tried email, i-phone, no response. When he missed sending in data yesterday, it became cause for grave concern.”

 

Link had also not heard from him since yesterday. He assumed that Mick was walled-off in silence, as was his nature. His eyes drifted from Levine’s in thought, but snapped back to the coordinator when she continued to speak.

 

“We care about our employees here at Amundsen-Scott, Dr. Neal, contrary to what you may believe.”

 

Link flinched undetectably at the thought that Levine could read his mind about how unbelievably _false_ he felt that statement was in light of how they had separated him and Mick.

 

“Warder and I flew down to 466 this morning.” Her focus dropped back to her lap. She paused. In that moment, Link was sure that time had just… stopped. 

 

She slowly lifted her head. Link braced as he noted the tears pooling in her eyes.

 

“We found Dr. McLaughlin in the bathroom. It appeared that he’d been drinking… excessively. And must have fallen or passed out.” Levine’s words were soft and slow, but firm.

 

Link _knew_ that something had been wrong. That idiot had gone and hurt himself. With no one there to take care of him.

 

“Did he get hurt bad? Is he okay now?” Link’s questions were life boats he launched. Something to cling to as the sea of reality swirled around him.

 

Levine reached out to put her hand on Link’s knee, tears rolling down her cheeks, now.

 

“Dr. N-… Link. When he fell, he must have hit his head. Hard enough to...”

 

Levine’s throat constricted, choking off the sentence. She breathed deep again, steadying her voice.

 

“Mick is gone.”

 

The room began to spin. The bed underneath Link fell away. And the floor beneath that. He was in freefall. No thought, no feeling. Nothingness. Just falling.

 

___________________________________________

 

“Link? Link? Dr. Neal!” The coordinator’s voice was far away, echoing in a deep cave.

 

When Link opened his eyes, his vision blurred and refocused on the worried Operations Coordinator bending over him. His brain slowly rewound to the last moment he could remember: Levine had come to his room. She … she’d had news.

 

“Rhett!” Link sat up from the bed like he was sprung, almost toppling Levine over in the process. “I have to see Rhett!”

 

He was on his feet, hand flinging open the door before Levine could get her footing. “Link, wait!”

 

Link paused outside his room. Looking left, then right. Having no idea where to go. He spun around to Levine, eyes set and determined.

 

“Where is he? Where’s Rhett?!”

 

Levine walked calmly up to Link and gripped his biceps firmly. Her voice patient and soothing. 

 

“Dr. McLaughlin’s body is in the Medical Bay. I’ll take you there in a minute, but fir-”

 

Link sprinted down the hall. 

 

Mick was here. Here in this building. That was all he knew. He took stairs two at a time, long legs stretching to cover as much distance as quickly as possible. 

 

He was of singular purpose. Get to Mick.

 

Link reached the top of the steps, his lungs burning to meet the sudden need. He exited the stairwell and saw the double doors at the end of the hall, red “Authorized Personnel Only” sign across both. “Medical Bay” in black letters above. The hallway was only 20 feet or so long, but as Link sprinted down, it stretched like some sick hallucination. He flung his body at the doors and they exploded open, shattering the stillness. 

 

Link stumbled into the room.

 

The Medical Bay was quiet and dark except for one exam light, leaving the room in long shadows. Three empty gurneys lined the right, various medical equipment surrounding each. The left had three beds, two of which were empty. The third - with the lone light shining above - was occupied. 

 

This person was completely covered by a neat, white sheet. They must have been tall, the way their draped feet extended past the end of the gurney.

 

Link straightened and stared at the figure under the light.

 

He wasn’t sure how, but he was nearing the body. Floating? He had no feeling. Now he was beside the gurney, hands reaching above the head of the bed for the top of the sheet. He watched as the sheet slowly exposed Mick’s hair, then he stopped. The dark blond was twisted in wild twirls. Link could imagine Mick repeatedly running his fingers through it in the last few days. In frustration? Despair?

 

The sheet moved again to reveal Mick’s forehead, and Link halted. A nasty red and purple gash slashed along his temple. Link imagined Mick lying in the bathroom floor, blood bubbling from the wound. Was he conscious then? Had he just faded away? 

 

Once again the sheet was moving, powered by Link’s hands but not. Until he rested his grip on Mick’s shoulders. 

 

His eyes drank in the beauty that was Mick. Except for the grey hue to his skin, he looked like he was peacefully sleeping. Link reached up and let his fingertips touch Mick’s beard. Followed it down to its uneven ends.

 

Rhett was gone. He’d fallen. Hit his head. Lay bleeding on the cold floor of a bathroom at the bottom of the world, and died. Alone.

 

It was more than Link could take. And then, he felt it - barely perceptible. 

 

The only thing he could equate it to was when he was a child and his dad would help him with a loose tooth. One that had been only hanging on by a tiny strand of flesh. And finally, when he felt that pop of flesh, he knew the tooth was free. 

 

So was the feeling when his last tendril to reality snapped, and he was floating far above his body standing in the Medical Bay. 

 

______________________________________________

 

From his vantage point above, he saw himself next to Mick’s body. Fingers finishing their touch of his beard and ending up at his side.

 

He saw Stevie Levine walk up to him slowly.

 

“Link. Are you okay?” Her words were hushed and halting.

 

The earthbound Link turned to Levine and spoke with volume and clarity.

 

“It is a terrible shame that Dr. McLaughlin met with such a demise.”

 

Levine was struck by the sudden change of emotion, she had fully intended to have to scrape Link off the floor. She knew from her brief conversation with Mick that there had been a budding relationship that had developed at 466, and that McLaughlin had called it in, what she thought had been immediately. Maybe she had miscalculated how devastated Link would be to this news.

 

“Y-yes. It is. I thought...“ Levine shook her head to shuffle her thoughts back in order. “I mean, I know you had feelings for Dr. McLaughlin. This must be quite a shock.”

 

The earthbound Link calmly and clearly answered, “You’re correct. I _did_. I believe it mostly had to do with the desolation of the location. Homesickness, maybe.” 

 

As the real Link floated, he was amazed at how easily the earthbound Link lied about his feelings for Mick.

 

“I’d like to return to my room now,” earthbound Link said matter-of-factly.

 

“S-Sure. I mean, you are free to go wherever you would like. But, I’m concerned about you, Dr. Neal. I hope you remember that we have counselors that are available to you. I have taken the liberty of scheduling you an appointment first thing in the morning with Dr. McElvain. I’m afraid that I will be requiring that you attend.” Levine searched Link’s eyes for any sign of emotional turmoil. She read nothing. His affect was even and unfazed.

 

“If you think that is necessary, ma’am. But like I said - I hate that Dr. McLaughlin had to meet with such a fate, but I had only known him a few months.” Earthbound Link blinked innocently.

 

“Thank you, Dr. Neal. I do.” Levine turned to leave the Medical Bay. At the double doors, she hesitated, “Out of abundance of caution, I will have John Warder check on you later.” With that, she disappeared.

 

Earthbound Link turned back to Mick and grasped the sheet at Mick’s shoulders. He started to return the drape when the floating Link surged back into control and stopped his hands. They then moved to either side of Mick’s face. One last time feeling the soft beard. 

 

Link bent over the figure’s lips, hovering briefly. Replaying all the times his lips had met the other’s, like grainy old film clips from a silent era. He finally pressed a chaste kiss. So cold. His Rhett was so cold.

 

He was moving now. Motion, but no feeling of feet hitting the ground. He saw the hallways and stairwells move past him. He was being pulled in a direction. A destination.

 

Home.

 

His and Mick's home. 

 

466.

 

If any researchers had been walking the halls at that late hour, Link would have seemed normal. Steady pace. Maybe a little absorbed in deep thought, but nothing alarming.

 

Link continued his trek through Amundsen-Scott until he reached the exterior doors. At this point, he certainly would have garnered attention, had anybody been around. Nobody goes into the field in just shirt and pants. With temperatures significantly below zero, the human body only has minutes before hypothermia sets in.

 

Link opened the doors to the outside.

 

“I wanna go home,” Link mumbled as his breath vaporized before him. 

 

_____________________________________________

 

Link walked purposefully out of the exterior doors of Amundsen-Scott and walked away from the building. Away from all of the buildings. Away from the bright lights. Into the dark tundra.

 

No feeling of cold. No feeling of anything. That connection to reality had been severed clean. The only drive was to return to their home. 

 

And then Link saw it. Among the darkness and snowy drifts. The yellow light above the exterior of 466. 

 

“I’m home,” Link whispered.

 

The door swung open. Mick stood in the frame. Link ran to him. Mick stepped forward with arms wide open. Link crashed into Mick, knocking him back a step. Link tilted his head up to gaze once more into the taller one’s green pools. 

 

“Snowflake, you came back to me.” Mick smiled down to the smaller one.

 

“You know I couldn’t stay away. You are my whole book.”

 

Mick pulled Link into a tight bear hug. His mustache tickled Link’s ear as he spoke.

 

“I love you, Link.”

 

Link pulled away enough to look at Rhett.

 

“I love you, too, Rhett. Come with me.” 

 

Link pulled Mick a few steps out and knelt down. There in the darkness, Link laid on his back in the snow. He looked over to Mick, who had settled next to him. He felt Mick gather him up in his arms. Link gazed up to the millions of stars above. Laying on Mick’s shoulder and wrapped in his embrace, he began to feel something. Warmth. He was so warm.

 

In Rhett's arms again, looking up at the breathtaking beauty of the night sky, Link was where he wanted to be.

 

“Rhett, this must be heaven.” Link smiled.

 

“It is, cub. It is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my alternate ending. This is my first ever try at writing. This came to me as I was awaiting the next chapter posting of the original story. Imagining a much darker ending than Its_Mike_Kapufty gifted us with.
> 
> Thank you, Its_Mike_Kapufty for beta review and your encouragement. All my love to you!


End file.
